This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Vehicle article carriers are used in a wide variety of applications to support various types of articles above an outer body surface of a motor vehicle such as a sedan, SUV, crossover, minivan, etc. Typically the vehicle article carrier includes a pair of support rails that are secured to the outer body surface of the vehicle generally parallel to one another and along the major longitudinal axis of the vehicle. One or more cross bars are then secured to the support rails to extend perpendicularly between the support rails. Often a pair of cross bars is used, and at least one of the pair can be adjustably positioned on the support rails to better accommodate and support articles of different sizes and shapes thereon.
With previously used cross bars, typically an end support is located at each opposing end of the cross bar. The end support typically has some structure that enables it to be removably or releasably secured to its associated support rail. Up until the present time, the end support has been constructed with a plastic housing that is formed in two distinct and separate molded plastic parts. An example of the two parts are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, where FIG. 1 shows a main body portion of the end support and FIG. 2 shows a cover. The cover is secured to the main body portion typically using fasteners during a subsequent assembly operation.
The requirement of having to mold the end support in two separate, distinct pieces has a number of drawbacks. Producing two distinct component pieces introduces additional costs, it can produce aesthetically unappealing seams or joint lines between the two parts, and most significantly the resulting seam between the two parts can produce additional wind noise when a vehicle is travelling at highway speeds. Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to be able to form an end support from plastic as a single piece component.